Longtime Feed Fannin volunteer Jim Yacavone passed away suddenly last October at his home in Florida, where he and his wife, Meredith, had moved after he retired earlier in 2023 from two years as Chair of the Fannin County Family Connections Board of Directors. Feed Fannin’s Kathy Beck memorialized Yacavone in the following post on our organization’s Facebook page.
“Today we honor the life of Jim Yacavone. For many years, Jim blessed the community of Blue Ridge and Fannin County. You may have known Jim through his work in the community garden as a garden volunteer or as Emcee at the Bowls of Hope fundraiser or as a board member for Feed Fannin.
You may recall working a community gardening project with Jim or his leadership with the North Georgia Master Gardeners. Many worked alongside Jim as a pantry volunteer on Wednesdays or served with him on the board of Family Connection.
Perhaps you were in the congregation or member of the Praise Team where Jim played bass guitar on Sunday morning in worship and blessed you with his musical talents. Maybe you were in the neighborhood band formed of four friends who met each Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm to play some country, blues or gospel tunes and listen to Jim speak afterward of his love and pride for his family or the big fish he caught, or the one that got away.
Jim was a great debater of most topics including local and political issues. Sometimes you would agree with him and sometimes you did not. But you could always say what you thought with Jim and he would always give you his opinion.
However you knew him, we at Feed Fannin knew Jim as a friend and champion for helping those struggling with food insecurity in our community, and our loss is great. I challenge you to live your life to the fullest doing what you love and try to make a difference in the lives around you. That’s what Jim did! Thanks for the memories, Jim!”